1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for providing viewers with an enhanced programming experience. More specifically, the present invention relates to giving a viewer an enhanced programming experience while remotely preparing the enhanced programming in accordance with the selections of the viewer.
2. The Prior State of the Art
For numerous years, homes, offices, and other buildings have accessed television programming through airwave broadcasts, cable providers, satellite transmission, and other communication channels. Televisions provide viewers with a varied assortment of entertainment, news, and educational programming. From the first broadcasts to current television programming, viewers gather a wealth of knowledge, while being entertained. With advances in communication technology and computer systems in recent years, television broadcast viewers no longer are limited to merely watching a television screen. Instead, television broadcast viewers may watch programming on a computer monitor or display, while performing a variety of other tasks, such as word processing, surfing the Internet, playing games, and the like.
Of particular interest, in recent years there has been an explosion with the availability of enhanced programming experiences associated with traditional television broadcast programming. Such enhanced programming experiences allow viewers to interact with or “feel” that they have become part of the television broadcast. For example, the enhanced programming may allow a viewer to “play-along” with participants in a game show by simultaneously answering questions and simulating accumulating points, money, prizes, and the like. Additionally, the current enhanced programming experiences allow viewers to obtain a more thorough understanding of a particular television broadcast. This may be achieved by connecting with a web site that has information relevant to the television broadcast, such as, for example, connecting to a sports related web site to obtain a baseball player's statistics.
Numerous attempts have been made to provide such enhanced programming or interactivity in a straightforward and efficient manner. From the inception of enhanced programming, manufacturers and providers have attempted to develop hardware, such as set-top boxes, and associated software to give a television broadcast viewer an interactive experience, whether the experience eliminates the television broadcast or combines enhanced programming with the television broadcast. The capabilities of each set-top box may vary from complex to unsophisticated set-top boxes. The more complex set-top boxes render Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) documents, storing large quantities of enhanced programming data and files, and providing the viewer with an enhanced programming experience. The less complicated set-top boxes (“low-end” set-top boxes) may only be capable of providing the viewer with the number of the television channel currently watched with no enhanced programming content.
With reference to FIG. 1, depicted is a schematic representation of an existing system for providing viewers with an enhanced programming experience using complex advanced receivers or set-top boxes. As shown, a system 10 includes a cable or satellite provider head end 12. The head end 12 represents the cable or satellite provider's hardware and/or software components or modules that receive broadcast programming. For example, head end 12 receives broadcast programming, as represented by the video-in line, and delivers the broadcast programming to an advanced receiver 14, such as an advanced set-top box. The advanced receiver 14 demodulates the signal received from head end 12 and delivers a demodulated signal to a display device 16 that displays the broadcast programming to a viewer.
Additionally, head end 12, through a proxy server 22, is capable of retrieving enhanced programming content from a web server 20 via a network 18. The enhanced programming content can be retrieved and delivered to advanced receiver module 14 before the enhanced programming content is to be displayed to the viewer or can be retrieved by proxy server 22 upon receiving a request from advanced receiver module 14 for such enhanced programming content.
In either case above, advanced receiver module 14 is capable of identifying the availability of enhanced programming content and notifying the viewer of such availability. One manner by which advanced receiver module 14 identifies the availability of enhanced programming content is to track metadata included within the broadcast programming that indicates when enhanced programming content is to be viewed.
While these techniques of providing enhanced programming content to viewers have been used successfully with relatively sophisticated set-top boxes, there are millions of existing, low-end set-top boxes that are not compatible with conventional methods for displaying enhanced programming content. Moreover, because of cost constraints, many more low-end set-top boxes are manufactured each year. Viewers using such low-end set-top boxes have been unable to view enhanced programming content without replacing their set-top boxes, which can be prohibitively expensive for many viewers.
In light of the above, it would be desirable to have a system that allows low-end set-top boxes and receivers to provide a viewer with an enhanced programming experience, thereby limiting the need for the viewer to purchase more complex and expensive set-top boxes and receivers.